I'm so used to my small library that's in a historic house and has a limited number of selections that I was blown away by the Portland one. It's in a modern, spacious building and has a huge selection of books, DVDs, CDs, magazines, etc. Their computer section is large; their New Fiction section looks like it's in a bookstore. They have original paintings, sculptures and other freestanding art, and a photo exhibit of historic Portland. Skylights, plants, lots of large windows. For a modern building, it's a very attractive, airy space.

Our review mainly reflects the South Portland Branch as this is the one we are allowed to go to living on the edge of Scarborough/Portland limits. The Staff for curbside pickup have been very friendly and nice and understanding when we have multiple pickups. We do have one frustration and that is the limit of both the books and to the library in general. The library itself has been closed for the past nine months. We could understand it in the beginning because there was a lot of caution in the first few weeks of this virus. Now however, all the bookstores around are open, including the used bookstores. And the library has remained closed except for curbside pickup. During curbside pickup there is little to no interaction with the staff inside and your books stay in quaratine for almost a week. Now, they have closed to even curbside pickup. If our taxes pay for the libary why are we unable to use it? I understand limited staff but this has become ridiculous. We should be able to use our library. We were going above and beyond and so was some of the staff trying to do curbside pickup and now you want to close for weeks at a time after each holiday? It seems the Director and board would rather close down the library than do some critical thinking. If the bookstores are allowing returns around them without hesitation, than why are we unable to access something we have already paid for?

This multi-level, quintessentially urban library (built 1979) was one of the jewels of the city’s Downtown District (not the Old Port). Once one got past the outdoor traffic, it was a pleasure to explore it. It was warm, well lit, and well organized. Its collections and spaces included a teens’ area, a children’s area, a public computers area, a periodicals reading area, a photo exhibits area, a special collections room, an auditorium, several meeting rooms, and more. The Portland Room was a particular treasure. The library’s main level restrooms were surprisingly clean. Its staff members were helpful, patient, and knew their library and all that it has to offer. The only major drawback was scarcity of parking for patrons who drive to it rather than walk or ride a bike. Parking was metered at curbside or paid at several nearby garages. Other than parking, I appreciated all that I found here; I disliked nothing.

I absolutely love the Portland library and its accessibility to the surrounding areas. Wide variety of books available with many community resources as well. Charging stations available at desks for electronic devices. Staff has always been very friendly and courteous as well. Multi-lingual friendly.

This is a state of the art open, well lit, and spacious library located in the center of the Old Port. They do wonderful programs. Unfortunately the security woman at the front door has NOT been trained with respect to task trained medical service dogs so although we have been there on many occasions we were rudely turned away yesterday. This is disgraceful for a public library. Just because someone has a disability and is assisted by a service dog doesn’t mean they can’t read a book or attend a author program. The woman working at the library entrance said the service dog could not come in because he “might” disturb others. That is a violation of the law and Portland should train their employees with respect to the ADA law. This woman said Portland was exempt from Federal Law. Where are Maine’s politicians? This is disgraceful and insulting.